I´m a professional photographer for over 10 years now - I invested a lot of money in state of the art equipment. How do you cope with your assistent / network-friend is asking to borrow some cameras / lenses / profoto light from you? Do you charge money from them? You give it away for free? Another strong point is - my old assistent is now building up his own website / photography business by using 90 porcent my equipment in his projects ...

My assistants all have access to my gear when we're working assignments. But the few times they've asked to use my gear for personal use/reasons I've simply told them my insurance doesn't cover a personal use scenario.. and it doesn't. I'll then offer to loan them something like my wife's Rebel and I'll always remind them they can rent whatever they need.

But whether they want to use in or outside of my studio they a) have to replacement insurance and they should also have ther own liability insurance if they are bringing clients or others (stylists, assitants) into your studio.

If it is a paying project I think it is fair to charge rental fees and here's why: equipment does need to get replaced as it gets used and the rental fees go into that replacement fund. You might not charge them the same amount a rental house would charge them but they should pay something.

It also helps to keep the personal and professional sides of the relationships clean. Also don't forget that this is equipment you use to pay your rent/mortage as well.

I ask a lot of my assistants. The days go by easy but they might be long or just start early or end late.Yes, they have to have insurance to use the gear outside the studio but other than not working ourselves, they have complete run of things.I do expect questions and queries as I want our working environment to be a learning one. I don't mind them using the studio for free and when the bigger jobs come along, we both understand that things will change and costs and rentals will have to be paid for, but in the meantime, please, test and work away.

Thanks for all the feedback.Of course I borrow equipment to my network guys - but I found it sometimes frustating, when you just give and nothing comes back. There is no respect to the equipment and invest that was taken into photography...

Exactly my practices as well, it does keep everything clean if/when somethinghappens. I also have an assistant that is very well equipped, and rent from himoften. I'd rather see money go his way than the local rental house.

But whether they want to use in or outside of my studio they a) have to replacement insurance and they should also have ther own liability insurance if they are bringing clients or others (stylists, assitants) into your studio.

If it is a paying project I think it is fair to charge rental fees and here's why: equipment does need to get replaced as it gets used and the rental fees go into that replacement fund. You might not charge them the same amount a rental house would charge them but they should pay something.

It also helps to keep the personal and professional sides of the relationships clean. Also don't forget that this is equipment you use to pay your rent/mortage as well.

When I was working as an assistant I got negligable pay but occasional free use of the studio, camera gear and lights. One day a light stand fell over in the middle of a shoot. The full cost of replacing the old broken light with a new one including tax, as the guy I worked for demanded, was more than I could afford. I borrowed some money from a friend and paid for the new light. For better or worse that was the end of our working relationship. What I learned from this is that whatever you decide the most important thing is that everybody has the same understanding about what is possible and who pays what if something goes wrong.